Maddy-cakes

Welcome to the world little Madeleine (Maddy) Grace Farrar, born June 19th at 7 lbs., 6 oz.!!!  We were so very excited to meet you this past weekend.  Our very first niece, and Logan's very first cousin.  A precious little cuddly bundle, who I did my best to snuggle up with the entire time we were with her over the past 4 days.

 

We enjoyed a wonderful  few days, snuggling up to a mostly sleeping Madeleine, hanging out chatting and enjoying some tasty treats.  More on those to follow over the next few posts.  Logan was unexpectedly more than ok with me holding Madeleine even for hours on end.  I have my fingers crossed that this means that he’ll adapt well to his new little sister.

Nothing better than snuggling up to a newborn.

Logan had a hoot during his visit, absolutely loving Ash and Eric’s dog, Loki.  He even quickly incorporated his name into his first few words.  He giggled incessantly while chasing him around their place, attempting to rip empty Tim Hortons cups out of his mouth, having howling competitions and face-offs for dominance and feeding him yogurt off of his spoon.  Something tells me Loki was more than happy to see us go.  And that Loki will have his own challenges with little Maddy as she gets older.  Logan continues to say 'goki' numerous times a day.

During our visit, Maddy was lucky enough to have the unique opportunity to hang out with all 4 of her great-grandmothers at an 88th birthday party organized for my grandmother.  My dad had the idea of making the birthday into a joint celebration of all 4 of Maddy's great-grandmothers, recognizing all of their recent birthdays.  What a wonderful, special occasion.  A big thanks to my dad, who had the idea and organized the whole thing.  I think I am speaking for everyone who was in attendance in saying that it was much appreciated and enjoyed by all.

  

Back to the point of this post... we brought these little French cakes, known appropriately as Madeleines, with us for Ash and Eric.  Maddy-cakes, as Ash likes to call little Madeleine.  We used a special Madeleine baking tray that we had brought with us once upon a time from France.  But I'm sure they could also be made in mini-muffin trays.

  

This recipe comes from the Larousse des Desserts, a gigantic French dessert cookbook that we bought in France before my husband immigrated to Canada.  Yes, Larousse, as in the dictionary Larousse.  Yes, essentially a full edition of every French dessert known to man.  Pure heaven.  Why haven't I used it more?  This is the first time I've ever made these, despite having both the recipe book and the appropriate pan.  I now have my eye on the strawberry eclairs that were on the same page as the madeleines...

These are super easy to make.  The only catch is that they call for levure chimique, which we usually buy in little packets in France and bring with us.  In doing a quick google search, it seems that this is equivalent to baking powder, but I can't guarantee it, as I've only made it with levure chimique.  You will also need a food scale to make this recipe, as for any other French recipe I've posted.  But they're relatively cheap and it's worth investing in one just to make some of the other delicious French food my husband makes and I post.  Well... in my humble opinion, at least.

So here goes the recipe:

100g of white flour (I don't dare substitute whole-wheat flour for most French recipes)
3g of levure chimique (or baking powder)
100g of butter
1/4 of a fresh lemon
2 eggs
120g of white sugar

1.  Sift together the flour and the levure chimique/baking powder into a bowl (I didn't bother doing this).  Melt the butter in a small pan and let cool.  Finely chop 1/4 of the lemon zest (I used the lazy man's version of store-bought dried lemon peel, as I didn't have a fresh lemon on hand).

2.  Break the eggs into a bowl and pour the sugar over top.  Whip or mix with an electric mixer on high for 5 minutes in order to allow the preparation to mousse.

3.  Add the flour mixture, then the butter and lemon rind to the egg/sugar mixture, without stopping the beater.

4.  Preheat the oven to 425 degrees Farenheit.

5.  Lightly butter the madeline tray (or mini muffin tray).  Fill 2/3 of the way with mixture.  

 

I learned in making this recipe that when the recipe says to coat the pan beforehand, you really should.  I figured that since I was using silicone baking trays that they were likely of the non-stick variety and I didn’t need to.  Wrong.  I had to peel my first batch out and they didn’t look half as nice as the second.

6.  Put in the oven at 425 degrees Farenheit for 5 minutes, then lower the temperature to 400 degrees Farenheit and let cook for approximately 10 minutes (this was a bit long for my oven - I did 8 minutes).

Makes 12 madeleines.

I found that these went stale very quickly, so I would either eat them all within a day or two or put the leftovers in the freezer.